Turkmenistan

Report of the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief,
Asma Jahangir

Addendum
Summary of cases transmitted to Governments and replies received

(...)

Turkmenistan
Communication sent on 17 July 2007

The last months saw a new wave of imprisonment of conscientious objectors in Turkmenistan, after about two years of relative calm. Forum 18-News reported on 31 August that a fifth Jehovah's Witnesses conscientious objector is now about to be prosecuted.

Forum 18 News Service reported on 22 April that all four imprisoned conscientious objectors had been released in mid-April following a presidential decree. All four known Jehovah's Witness prisoners - Begench Shakhmuradov, Atamurat Suvkhanov, Mansur Masharipov and Vepa Tuvakov – were freed last weekend in the wake of a surprise presidential decree and are now back at home with their families, Jehovah's Witnesses have told Forum 18.

The right to conscientious objection is derived from Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and seen as a manifestation of the freedom of religion and belief. The then CSCE stressed the right to conscientious objection in paragraph 18 of the Document of the Copenhagen meeting of the Conference on the Human Dimension in June 1990.The UN Commission on Human Rights stressed the right to conscientious objection in several resolution, most recently Resolution 1998/77, 2000/34, 2002/45. The Council of Europe also stresses the right to conscientious objection, especially in resolution 337 (1967) and recommendations 1518 (2001), R (87) 8, and 816 (1977).

by Silke Makowski

In the region of Caucasus and Central Asia, no country offers a free choice between military service and alternative service, most of them even having no legal basis for a substitute service at all. The few states that passed a law on some kind of alternative service haven't implemented it according to international standards: in Georgia, substitute service isn't available in practice and in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, large bribes are necessary to perform it.

by Lindsay Barnes

International interest in the resource-rich former Soviet states in Central Asia and the Caucasus has surged over the past decade. Why has Caspian oil and gas suddenly become so significant to the global energy market? What are the consequences for the region's inhabitants as they struggle to forge fledgling democracies?

19/05/1998 1 Conscription

conscription exists

Turkmenistan decided to create its own armed forces in early 1992. However, their first full-scale military exercises did not occur until October 1995. [2]

military service

Military service lasts for two years - although according to another source the period is 18 months.